


Heterochromia Iridis

by Angel_Dawn_Nimbus



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past eating disorder, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-13 12:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21493960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Dawn_Nimbus/pseuds/Angel_Dawn_Nimbus
Summary: Soulmate A/U: The phenomenon of Heterochromia Iridis allows you to find your destined other half.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson, Howie "Chimney" Han/Maddie Buckley
Comments: 54
Kudos: 644
Collections: Buck and Eddie are Soulmates





	1. Evan Buckley Begins

Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley was 12 years old when his Heterochromia finally finished developing. He knew other children in his class whose eyes had settled sooner, his had come through a little later than he was expecting. There are some people who have to wait longer. Maddie had already met who she believed to be her soulmate; Evan wasn’t so certain. He had a bad feeling about Doug. Doug seemed so manipulative. Evan had a feeling that Doug was lying to Maddie about them being Soulmates. His sister had the wool pulled over her eyes, but essentially she was so in love and didn’t want to believe anything else. Maddie always told him he was too immature to understand love, and she loved Doug and nothing her little brother can say could change that.

Evan was all alone in the house with his abusive father. His mother never did anything to stop it, he began to resent her. She was supposed to be his mother, she was supposed to protect him.

Evan looked into the bathroom mirror, carefully cleaning the gash on his lip. He learnt to take care of himself. No one else was there to take care of him. He had to look after himself and sometimes his father when his mother wasn’t around. Evan noticed his right eye had fully changed colour. It was a stark difference compared to his left eye that was a pale bluish hue. The new colour that finished shifting ended up being a light brown almost hazel colour.

“Come down here, Evan! Now!” His father roared. Evan flinched, hesitating. He knew if he waited longer the punishment would be so much worse. Evan ran down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and further hesitating at the entrance to the living room where his father was drunk and sitting watching the television. He didn’t want to go in. He was terrified. He had been living like this for so long. There were quite a few hospital visits for broken bones, his mother had just played it up like he had fallen out of a tree or some other bullshit story that the doctors always seemed to believe.

“You wanted to see me?" Evan spoke, standing to attention. His father’s eyes snapped to him; he noticed the new colouring to Evan’s eye.

  
“Cover them. No one wants to see that. It is disgusting."

Evan flinched. It never made any sense why he was told to cover up his Heterochromia. His father had it, but his eyes had never changed, though. His wife wasn’t his soulmate, which is probably why he is a bitter old man. There was one day he had noticed that his mother’s eyes have changed. Evan then realized where she went all the time. He knew his father had noticed and he took it all out on Evan as his wife was never around.

Even when Maddie was home, Evan’s father would abuse him, but it was never where she could see. He would always threaten to kill him if he told anyone about the abuse. There were a couple of times he thought Maddie had gotten suspicious. She never did anything though. She ended up spending all her free time with Doug. She didn’t have enough time for her little brother’s problems. She had no idea at the time that the problem was bigger than she thought. Maddie ended up moving out to live with Doug, Evan begged her to take him with her, but she didn’t want her annoying little brother hanging around her and her boyfriend. How could Maddie leave him like this? Evan knew she wanted to get away and live with Doug. He hated that she did that to him, left him with his tormentor.

_ “You are such a disappointment."_

_“You can’t do anything right."_

_“No wonder your sister left you behind."_

_“Why did you think anyone would take you seriously."_

_“I always knew you were stupid; this just confirms it."_

_“You need to lose some weight you’re getting fat."_

_“You never think do you!"_

_“No-one will ever love you."_

_“You are pathetic."_

_“I thought I told you to cover that up!"_

As time went by the abuse got worse, Evan had finally saved enough money to buy a set of contacts to cover up his Heterochromia. The shade wasn’t exactly the same, but it was close enough to his actual eye colour.

The physical abuse lessened after he started wearing a blue contact over his brown eye. The mental abuse hadn’t changed at all. His father was still cruel, taking things Evan had been already self-conscious of and made him hate himself.

_“Why did you think anyone would take you seriously?"_

_“I always knew you were stupid; this just confirms it."_

_“You need to lose some weight you’re getting fat."_

This went on for years. When he was about to turn eighteen, Evan packed up and left Pennsylvania in the middle of the night. He couldn’t take it anymore. No one would miss him. The only thing his father would miss was his punching bag, but Evan was done. He was done a long time ago, but only now was he able to afford getting out of Pennsylvania. He wanted to get as far away as he could. He never wanted to see his family again. He wanted Maddie, but he hadn’t heard from her in a few months. Evan would send her the odd message, sometimes he would get a reply, but they were only two-word replies. There were no details in her replies whatsoever. He would send her cards in the mail but never got anything back, he hoped she was ok.

Evan started working odd jobs around different states, trying to find a place to call home. Nowhere felt right. He’d spend a few months in one place, then decide it wasn’t for him, so he would pick somewhere else further away and start over.

When he was twenty-four, he tried bartending in South America for the summer. He loved it, but he still didn’t get the feeling of home. The people were great, so were the endless stream of one-night stands, but who was counting. Just because there was someone out there destined for him doesn’t mean he can’t have fun until then. Most of the time it just made him feel nothing, he at least wanted to connect with someone, but that didn’t seem to happen. Maybe it was time to move on.

Evan then packed his bags up and headed to his next destination. He had always wanted to be a Navy Seal and they were now accepting training applicants in Illinois. Evan managed to get through the first couple of weeks of training when he began to realize that they wanted machines. They wanted people who could flip a switch in their heads to become mindless, void of every human instinct. He dropped out after that. He couldn’t be that person he wasn’t that person, he wanted to help people not be a robot.

Evan then packed his bags yet again and started to make his way to his next destination. He had always liked the sunshine. California always had constant sunshine, except for the occasional rainy day. He jumped in his car and just drove he’d decide on the way.

Maybe he’d go further up the west coast. Maybe to California. California was as far away from Pennsylvania as he could get. No-one could find him there. No-one would want to search the whole country just to find him, he wasn’t important enough for people to want to look for him. He left six years ago, and no-one had tried. He was all alone. He had no friends. His sister had lost contact with him, no matter how hard he tried, she had just stopped replying. Even she had stopped caring.

Evan then started anew in Los Angeles, California.

Evan was trying to figure out what to do now that he had dropped out of Seal training. He was lost, had no idea what to do with himself now that he had no purpose. He was all alone still, no-one to help him. Evan could never have an office job, he liked having face to face human interaction. If he was stuck behind a desk, he’d barely have that. He was more of an impulsive person, sure he probably needed to think through some of his decisions before he made them, but he wouldn’t be where he was now if he wasn’t impulsive. His luck started changing when he ran into an LAFD recruiter, and he signed up almost immediately. Being a firefighter spoke to him and he couldn’t wait to start his training to become an LAFD Firefighter. Evan then registered to study fire science at the university to help improve his chances. He split his time between the training and studying. He didn’t have a lot time on his hands to do much else, but it was worth it.

There was a written exam you had to pass, which Evan blew through. It wasn’t hard, he heard some others struggled a bit with some of the tests they were given. Doing the CPAT was easy for Evan as he was fit from the Navy Seal training and afterwards kept himself in shape. Evan flew through every test they threw at him.

Evan ended up at the Fire Academy to continue learning everything he could. His course in Fire Science definitely helped with a lot of the knowledge he needed. After the academy, he had an interview, then was hired and assigned to Station 118.

He had made it. After all the intense hours of training and studying, he actually made it. Sure, he was only a Probationary Firefighter, but if he keeps his nose clean, he can become a full firefighter.

“You will report to Captain Robert Nash of the 118."

Evan stood in front of the 118, he was shaking. This was it. Evan was nervous. He could see the shiny fire trucks parked in the building along with an ambulance. As he walked between the fire trucks taking everything in, he was getting more nervous. Not many people were downstairs, a couple was cleaning equipment. A man pointed him in the direction of Captain Nash. Buck slowly walked up the stairs navigating his way past small round tables of firefighters eating. He made his way to a large dining room table where the group was talking and laughing.

Evan made his way to the man he thought was Captain Nash.

“Uh- Hi," Evan waved at the group of people sitting at the table eating.

“Um Evan Buckley, new recruit. I was told to report to Captain Nash." The people sitting at the table were looking at each other puzzled.

Evan started to panic. Did I go to the wrong station? Did I not actually get put here? Stupid Evan, there you go messing it up again. But why would they point him in this direction if he had the wrong station?

“You know a Captain Nash?" The older man spoke talking to one of his tablemates.

“Uh…."

The man looked over at him with a straight face.

“Uh." What do I even say? I just barged in not even bothering to check first that he had the right man. Evan started looking around for the nearest exit.

“Um."

“Take a seat Evan." The man, Captain Nash spoke, smiling, patting the chair next to him.

Everyone around the table started laughing. Evan laughed weakly. Evan, you need to relax it was just a prank. They were just messing with you, it wasn’t serious.

“Uh, Buck. Everyone just calls me Buck." Buck put his bag down and sat in the chair offered to him.

“Welcome to the 118 Buck."

“Thank you,- Uh, this is amazing. Is it always like this?" Buck looked at the dinner spread in front of him on the table. A Korean man puts pasta in a bowl for him and handed it over.

The woman in front of him, then spoke. “Always."

“Well, when Bobby’s in the Captain's chair anyway." The Korean man continued on the woman’s answer.

“I think I might be in the right place."


	2. Do We Really Know Anything About Him?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Buck Backstory and Eddie Arrives.

The team was having some downtime in between calls, so they were quickly eating what they could before the alarm went off sending them to their next call. Somehow the topic they got onto was their Heterochromia; they had never really discussed it before. Out of the group only Hen and Bobby were the only ones who had matched. Not with each other, that would be weird. It became a full-blown discussion of people’s opinions on the topic.

“Hen you are proof that the Heterochromia soul match works. Just look at you and Karen."

When you meet your match the Heterochromia goes away, what's left gets blended. Your original eye colour stays, but then you get a ring around the pupil of your soulmate’s eye colour. Normally after you meet your match, it takes time for the colours to change. It happens gradually. There are some rare cases where it happens instantly, but the group had met no one who it had happened to. With Hen’s eyes she originally had a dark brown eye, and the other was a light amber coloured, now she has a lighter brown almost Whiskey coloured ring around her pupils.

Bobby had matched with Athena Grant. It was hard for both of them. His deceased family still haunted Bobby. Athena was married to Michael, they had two children: May and Harry. Athena and Bobby have remained friends, but they all have a feeling that something has changed between them. Well, Hen has a feeling.

“But it wasn’t always that way. I fought it. It took me a long time to admit to myself that Karen was actually my soulmate. After Eva, I didn’t want to be vulnerable around anyone. It took us a long time to get to this point. Yes, the Heterochromia paired us together, but it wasn’t immediate it took a lot of work, and we still struggle a lot sometimes. An immediate connection is rare. I don’t know anyone who has gone through it. Even then you still have to work at it, just because you are destined to be with someone doesn’t mean you don’t need to put the effort in."

Hen was ranting, she had a point, having that connection with someone didn’t always mean it would work out, you had to want to make it work. Everyone at the table except Buck didn’t wear contact lenses to cover up their Heterochromia. They weren’t ashamed of it, not like Buck was. He had it drilled into him for years that it shouldn’t be visible it was wrong and unnatural.

“What about you Buck?" Chimney asked. 

Everyone noticed the difference between the shades of blue in Buck’s eyes, when he first started with them, they guessed at the start that he was wearing a contact to cover up the other colour. They had it confirmed when they had seen him pop a contact in, but no one was quick enough to decipher what colour he was hiding. One eye was darker than the other. No one knew what colour was underneath.

“I’ve always been told to keep it covered. It just became a habit." Buck answered softly. He could see from the corner of his eye that Bobby was about to say something when the alarm went off. Saved by the bell.

Buck leapt up from his chair and ran quickly down the stairs to the trucks. Why did he have to open his big mouth?

The truck started hurtling down the road towards their next emergency.

“So, Buck. What did you mean exactly that you were told to keep your eye colour covered?" Chimney asked. Buck tensed; he really didn’t want to talk about it. Bobby would only get angry. Then they all would want more answers.

“My father wasn’t a nice person. Let’s just leave it at that."

He could feel the tense silence as everyone comprehended what Buck was implying. They couldn’t believe that a kind, goofy, brave man had an awful childhood. Buck was like a Golden Retriever, all playful and loyal. They didn’t want to assume to know exactly what Buck had gone through growing up. Buck never offered that part of himself, they didn’t even know that much about their newest member. There was probably a reason for that, he probably wanted to leave his past behind him. Bobby hoped he would never meet the man that did horrible things to his own child. He didn’t know how he would react.

As they pulled up to the emergency site everyone piled out of the truck, ready to assess the situation.

“You gonna be okay kid?" Bobby asked standing next to Buck while they looked over the scene.

“I have to be." Buck then flew into action helping where he could. Bobby shook his head and started to delegate tasks to each of the crew members. Bobby would just have to keep an eye out for Buck.

_

When the new recruit Eddie started at the 118 Bobby knew he’d fit right in, he was surprised about was Buck being standoffish to him. That wasn’t like Buck at all. Buck was always welcoming to everyone. What was it about Eddie that rubbed Buck the wrong way?

Buck was trying to protect what he thought was his territory. He was protective of his family and was wary of newcomers. Usually he was friendly and welcoming, but he wanted to prove that he was the better one, and they didn’t need Eddie on the team. Buck knew he should be kind to the new guy, but everyone always overlooked Buck, there were always offhand comments about how Buck wasn’t smart, he was too impulsive, that he was a stereotypical dumb jock. There was even a comment from Chimney that hurt, it brought back dark memories from when his father would comment harshly on his weight. He knew Chimney didn’t mean it that way, but he couldn’t help how he felt.

For a long time, he had an eating disorder; he had buried those memories into the dark recesses of his mind. All the comments from his father about his weight got to him. He stopped eating as much. He made his body eating itself for nutrition. There were days he skipped meals but when it got to where he needed something he then only ate small amounts to stop himself from passing out from hunger, it would make his father angry and beat him more if he had to take him to the hospital. People would start asking questions.

It took him a long time after he left home to take care of himself better. Slowly he began to eat right and workout. As he started to pile on the muscle, he started to get more lustful looks thrown his way, but there was always a little voice telling him he could stand to be bulkier, lose more weight. He had hit a few roadblocks along the way. Once even ending up in hospital because he had dropped too much weight. That was a wake-up call. Taking care of himself became a necessity when he was working to eat right to keep himself fit and healthy. He couldn’t afford to miss days of work.

Now he was a lot more confident in himself, but he still had days where someone’s offhand comment set him back a bit.

There were times Bobby would give him looks, as if he could sense the dark thoughts Buck was having. He always said nothing to him about it, but he also didn’t stop his teammates from picking on him.

He had to pull Buck aside to give him a reminder they were all working as a team and that he had to play nice.

Well, it didn’t take long for Buck to change his tune. After the boys worked together to get the grenade out of the man’s leg they were laughing and joking together. Seems like they were instant friends after that.

Back at the firehouse they were getting back to their meal that they had to skip out on due to the call.

“So, Eddie. Have you met your soulmate yet?" Hen asked. Buck tensed. Not everyone liked to talk about it. It was a sore spot for many people.

“No." Eddie just clammed up after that. Eddie didn’t leave room for any further discussion; something must have happened with someone in the past and now he doesn’t want to trust anyone like that again. No one wanted to annoy the new recruit after he blatantly put an end to the conversation.

Everyone just looked at each other not knowing what to say. Turns out they didn’t have to. The alarm went off, so they were getting called out. They could never finish a full meal.

“Let’s go." Everyone leapt out of their seats and made their way to the vehicles ready to head off to the call.


	3. Am I Really That Forgettable?

Buck had already been on shift for almost 12 hours. It was early even. He had a different shift today. It just worked out that way. The others were coming onto shift as he was leaving. He would join them for the second half of their 24-hour shift in the morning. He looked at his watch, he could leave in 10 minutes. 

“Shannon wants to see Christopher." Eddie flopped down on the couch next to Buck. Eddie did not look happy. There was pain behind his eyes.

“And Shannon is...?" Buck wasn’t sure who exactly Shannon was, Eddie didn’t really talk too much about his past. He kept that part of to himself. Buck guessed that Shannon was an ex but didn’t want to assume anything.

“Shannon is Christopher’s mother. She left us when she had enough being a mother. She never came back. She texted me one day saying that she had found her soulmate and was never coming back. It broke me and Christopher. Now she wants back in his life. I don’t know if I can do that to him." Eddie looked heartbroken, but he wasn’t heartbroken for himself. It was for Christopher.

“No offense dude, but she sounds like a bitch."

“What do I do now?" Eddie sighed settling further into the couch.

“I literally would have no idea what to do in this situation. I have never had someone leave me in that way. Abby left but she left to find herself, she didn’t leave because she’d had enough of us. Sounds like it sucks. But what I can say is do what is best for Christopher. He may want to see his mother, but maybe give him the option. Have a serious discussion with him. You have no idea how long she is planning on sticking around, but let Christopher decide. Just think about how he would feel later down the track if you never gave him the option."

“That isn’t a bad idea. I want to protect him, but maybe being overprotective will end up hurting him and I don’t want that on my shoulders." Eddie sat cross-legged on the sofa facing Buck while they were discussing what Eddie should do about Shannon.

“What are you boys up to?" Hen called out as she came into view.

"We are gossiping Hen. You want in?" Buck said teasingly.

“Buck did you hear about Chimney and your sister?" Hen exclaimed jokingly as she sat next to Buck on the couch. Buck started nodding. Then Buck ran over what Hen had said.

“Wait. What?"

“No! What are you even talking about?" Buck was so confused. What did Hen even mean about Chimney and Maddie.

“Seriously Buck? You didn’t know? Chimney literally told us last week." Eddie was shaking his head laughing at Buck.

“Guys. Seriously. What did I miss?" Buck whined. They were both being really vague.

“Dude your sister and Chimney are soul matched." Eddie stopped laughing. Something wasn't right about this situation. Eddie looked confused as to why Buck wasn't remembering the conversation they had as a team last week. He didn't think it would be something he'd forget about his own sister. 

Buck knew it was irrational to be a little upset that his sister didn’t tell him she was soul matched with one of his friends. After Doug, Buck was protective of his sister. He knew rationally that Chimney was a good guy. He had known him for what seemed like ages and was part of his chosen family, but it was still strange to hear about.

“Why didn’t Maddie tell me?" Buck asked puzzled.

“Because she thought you already knew." Chimney spoke coming over to the group.

“When exactly was this? Because I don't remember that at all." He can’t be that oblivious that he missed Chimney announcing to everyone that he was soul matched to Maddie.

“Oooooh right. Chimney, remember Buck was napping in the Bunk room." Hen spoke up. Buck’s face fell. No-one had thought to come and get him to tell him that Chimney and his sister were together. They had completely forgotten him. Like he was an afterthought. Even then he wasn’t an afterthought. He was an: ‘Oh we forgot that Buck wasn’t included in the conversation, so we’ll just forget to tell him about it’. He’ll just have to hear about it secondhand and not from his own sister.

“Buck." Chimney started to speak.

“No. Forget it. It’s fine. Guess I’m not important enough to know these things." He spoke softly hoping no-one would hear him.

Buck then checked his watch. His shift had just ended. Buck pulled himself off the couch and started to make his way down to the locker room.

He didn’t look back at the group near the couch; he didn’t want them to see the tears in his eyes. He quickly peeled off his uniform and changed into his civilian clothes. He clocked out and moved swiftly to his Jeep and peeled out of the parking lot. No-one had tried to follow him.

_

Buck woke up to his alarm screeching at him. He groaned and threw his pillow over his head. Buck didn’t want to get out of bed, he had a horrible end to his shift. He had just turned off his phone and just gone straight to bed. Now he was dreading turning it back on, even more going into work. Which was stupid. Buck loved what he did, but he didn’t want to turn up and make an ass out of himself for being a child.

He couldn’t help but feel hurt over his team leaving him out of something important.

“You can do this Buck. Just turn the phone back on." He whispered to himself. He held the device in his hand staring at it. He held down the power button, powering on the device.

His lock screen flashed to life, it was a photo of him and his sister, the first photo they had taken together in years, the day she had finally turned up at his, well Abby’s place. His phone started blowing up with missed calls and texts.

There were a couple of texts from Bobby. A few from Hen, a couple of missed calls and texts from Eddie. A few texts and a lot of calls from Chimney. Maddie had called him more times than Chimney had. She had sent a lot of texts. The last ones came through around midnight last night. What Buck noticed though is no-one had thought to come over and try to reach him that way.

Buck’s eye was burning, he had forgotten to take out his contact lens last night. He dragged himself out of bed and to the bathroom. He started flushing his eye out with eye drops. While he got ready for work, he’d let his eye breathe. Then he’d put a new contact lense in.

Buck had a quick shower and washed the previous day off himself. His tense muscles started to relax, they tensed back up when he heard banging at his front door. He turned the shower off and towelled himself off. He threw on his clothes and popped his contact in then made his way to the front door all the while towel drying his wet hair.

When he opened the front door there stood Maddie. He was so tempted to shut the door in her face, but he wasn’t that person. She was his sister. She didn’t mean to hurt him. It wasn’t her fault.

“We need to talk."


	4. Maddie Gets Some Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buck gives Maddie some of his backstory.

_“We need to talk.”_

“Buck what’s going on? No-one is telling me anything. Everyone started clamming up when I asked them. They all looked guilty."

“Even Chimney?" Buck snapped bitterly. Buck turned around and made his way to the kitchen. He started to make his breakfast that he wasn’t even hungry for. He just wanted something to do with his hands.

“What is with that tone? I thought you liked Chimney. He is your friend."

“Some friend." He muttered; he wasn’t looking in his sister’s direction. He knew she would force it out of him. 

“What is this even about? I am so confused. Please talk to me. I can see that it hurt you, and I don’t know why. I just want to help." Maddie spoke softly, walking up to him. Buck sighed, leaving his half-finished breakfast on the bench. Making his way over to the couch. Apparently, he would be late for work now. Maddie would not let him leave until she knew everything.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had matched with Chimney? I would have been happy for you. I am happy for you. I just had to find out from Hen as she joked about it at work. I’m your brother, why didn’t you want to tell me?" Maddie looked heartbroken.

“I didn’t know how to react to it at first. It wasn’t an instant thing. It happened gradually by the time I realized what was happening I didn’t know how to talk to you about it. We aren’t even dating, I told him after what happened with Doug it would take some time for me to get to the place where I am comfortable being in another relationship. So, we are just friends for now."

“Oh, so they didn’t tell you about how they forgot about me. When Chimney was announcing about how he had met his match, that when he was telling the team about one of the happiest days of his life, I wasn’t included. They had left me sleeping in the bunk room. No-one thought to wake me up for this announcement. Then it gets even better when I find out it is a week later, and I don’t find out from you or Chimney. I mean I’d rather hear it from my sister. I find out from Hen, who is making a joke, I know she thought I knew, but how hard is it for you to say: ‘Oh Buck just letting you know, Chimney is my soulmate. Just thought you should know; you know before Chimney goes blabbing to everyone.’" Maddie looked at him speechless with tears in her eyes.

“How long have they been treating you this way?" She whispered softly.

“What do you mean?" Now Buck was really confused. Is that what she got from his rant? He was only talking about one incident.

“I know how to read between the lines Evan. How long have they been tearing you down?"

“It isn’t like that Maddie; they aren’t doing it maliciously," Buck said standing up for his friends.

“And it isn’t everyone who is doing it." He really didn’t want to tell his sister that her soulmate is one of the people that have been making little mean comments to him unintentionally since the beginning.

“What have they been saying?" She asked quietly.

“They just think all I’m good for is just to be a bouncer in a strip club. They mock my intelligence or, in their case, my lack of it. I took the same tests as they did. I studied, hard to get where I am but apparently that isn’t enough for them. When Eddie started working with us, Chimney said I needed to lose more weight if I wanted to match up to the others. I never told you this, but while you were at home and it continued after you left home, Dad was horrible. For quite a number of years, I had an eating disorder. I am finally happy where I am but there are comments like those that knock me back. They don’t even do it to be mean, but the words hurt."

Maddie brought Evan into her arms and they lay there on the couch with both of them crying. Maddie was running her fingers through her little brother’s hair and whispering softly to him. How much she missed him when they weren’t talking, how much she wished she could protect him from everything he had gone through up to now. How much she loved him. Soon Buck’s breathing evened out, and she knew that he had fallen asleep.

Maddie carefully got off the couch and put a blanket over her brother. She had some phone calls to make.

She first found Bobby’s number in her brother’s phone and called him off hers.

“Captain Nash speaking."

“Bobby. Hi. This is Maddie Buckley." She started off softly. Evan had fallen asleep in her arms. He was emotionally exhausted.

“Maddie? Is Buck OK? He hasn’t turned up for his shift yet. My team haven’t heard from him either. Have you seen him?" Bobby sounded genuinely worried about Buck.

“I’m at his place. He was not having a good morning some past issues have come up, and he isn’t feeling up to coming in today."

“What happened? What issues are you talking about? He seemed fine yesterday while he was on shift." Bobby sounded so confused. It wasn’t like Buck not to turn up to shift.

“It isn’t my place to go into detail. From what I got out of Evan, somehow, he had been left out of Chimney’s announcement last week, no one thought to get him, then everyone thought my brother was stupid enough to forget the entire thing and had to ask for clarification when everyone was talking about it. It seems like to me, you all think Evan is an afterthought, and you don’t all care about him as much as you pretend to. Did you know that your team makes comments to Evan’s face about how he isn’t capable of doing anything but be a bouncer outside of being a firefighter, or making comments about his weight? You need to fix this. My brother now thinks he is unimportant to you guys. That he is nothing more than someone to pick on. You better do something before his next shift. If you don’t, I’ll have to come there myself."

She hung up the phone before Bobby could reply to her rant. She probably said more than she should of, but he needed to hear it, her brother was tearing himself up over something that isn’t even his fault. He is so unappreciated in his own home. Maddie knows that the firehouse has become more of a home than anywhere ever has for Evan. Let’s hope Maddie got through to Bobby, and he does something about it.


	5. Buck Under Appreciated?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobby talks to the team about Buck

Bobby listened to the silence at the other end of the line. Maddie had just yelled at him then hung up. Bobby tried to process what Maddie had been telling him. Well, the first was he was definitely down a member today. After he processed the rest of the conversation if you could call it that, his heart broke.

From what Maddie was telling him, Buck was feeling unappreciated and hurt about the way they treated him. Bobby had known about the bouncer at a strip club conversation. His heart sank when he remembered the look on Buck’s face after that comment. Buck was intelligent, even Bobby knew that. You had to be to get through the academy. On Evan’s resume, it showed that he even studied fire science and got top marks. Half the people on his team didn’t even do any courses to further themselves along in this career. Buck had a heart of gold. He had so many skills that helped him out in this career path no one had ever thought to ask. Bobby knew some things but only because Buck had offered that little part of himself that no-one else tried to get to.

He needed to have a serious conversation with his team, mainly Hen and Chimney. Eddie hadn’t been here long enough, and him and Buck were best friends. Eddie had never had a mean thing to say about Buck, even when he was being an asshole to Eddie at the start. 

Bobby didn’t know whether to pull the team into his office or to do it in the dining room. He should probably do it in here. The rest of the squad didn’t need to hear this. Buck didn’t interact with the rest of the squad as much as he did Bobby, Chimney, Eddie and Hen, he was definitely kind to everyone and vice versa.

He walked up the stairs to the dining room where the three he needed were sitting at the table chatting at a low volume.

“You three. My office now!" Bobby said sharply. Eddie looked so confused as to what was going on. He was sure he hadn’t done anything wrong to be called into Bobby’s office.

“What’s going on, Bobby? Where’s Buck? He should be here by now." Eddie asked. He looked at his watch. Buck should definitely be here by now. He was getting worried. Buck didn’t answer is calls or texts yesterday. They hadn’t known each other for too long only six months, but he was his best friend.

“Buck called out today. He isn’t doing good."

“What! Is he ok?" Eddie felt anxious at Bobby’s wording. Did something happen to Buck on his way to work?

“I’ll start off by saying this. When did we all start under-appreciating Buck’s position on this team? This family?" Bobby looked distraught.

It confused Eddie. What did Bobby mean that Buck was feeling underappreciated? He said nothing, but would he have? He kept a lot about his personal life to himself.

“Eddie, this isn’t aimed at you. You haven’t been here as long. You and Buck are close friends, and I’m sure you would say nothing to jeopardize your friendship with him."

What have people been saying to Buck? Eddie was even more confused, even after Bobby started explaining what is going on.

“I get you guys like to rib and tease each other; I shouldn’t even have to talk to you about this. You are adults. I have just had Maddie yell at me over the phone, and I’m expecting she’ll be calling you later Chim. I don’t know everything, maybe one day we will, but Buck is part of this family. Buck told us he didn’t have a good childhood growing up. Sorry, you weren’t here for that conversation, Eddie. Yet you all still think it is ok to make fun of him. We don’t know what he’s been through. We don’t know what will trigger him. So, we all need to go to him and grovel. Maybe he’ll tell us what is going on. I think we need to try understanding him better. After shift we are all going over to Evan’s place and apologizing for everything. Do you understand me?"

Bobby ended his rant. He left no room for discussion. Eddie looked over at Hen and Chimney, they had their heads down ashamed. Eddie wanted to know his best friend better. He would take whatever Buck was willing to tell them, he would be there for him no matter what.

The rest of their shift dragged on. They were all anxious to see Buck and apologize. Hen and Chim more than anyone. They felt so guilty over their past actions. They had no idea at the time that Buck was so hurt by what they had said to him, they never meant it to come across as cruel, Buck probably didn’t even see it as cruel. He was just hurt. They needed to be there for him more like he was always there for them.

Once the end of their shift came, they all changed into civilian clothes for the shift changeover. They were so ready to get out of there and head to Buck’s place. They all piled into their own vehicles and started to make their way to Buck’s place. They were going to take one car, but they didn’t know how long this talk would take and it was just easier if they took their own so they could head straight home afterwards if that is what they chose to do, depending on how tonight went.

Athena met the team in the foyer of Buck’s apartment. She did not look happy with the team.

“What did you do to him?" Everyone looked down guiltily.

They cautiously made their way to Buck’s front door and knocked gently. They all looked at each other nervously.

“It’s open." Maddie called softly.

Maddie knew they were on their way over. Bobby opened the door and stepped in. In the living room was Maddie and Buck lying on the couch. Buck was fast asleep with his head resting on Maddie’s shoulder.

“He’s been like this all day. Hopefully you can say something more to fix it. There is still a lot that I don’t know and even more that you don't."

They all took a seat wherever there was a spare spot. They awkwardly looked at each other. They didn't know where to go from here.

“Evan. Time to wake up." Maddie spoke softly into Buck’s ear. Buck’s eyes fluttered open. He then startled, seeing everyone sitting in the living room.

“What are you guys doing here?" Buck spoke, his voice rough from sleep.

“There has been some miscommunication within this family, and we need to get everything out in the open to be able to understand each other and move forward." Bobby spoke looking directly a Buck who had never looked this small in the time he had known him.

“Ok, where do we want to start?"


	6. Buck Tells The Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buck tells the story of his childhood to the team.

“I think we should start by apologizing to you. We never meant to hurt you with the way we would tease you. It seems like you were the only one we would pick on and that isn’t fair to you."

Hen spoke softly, as if not wanting to startle Buck with a louder volume. Her heart was breaking, she knew Buck was a lot more sensitive compared to the rest of them, he wore his heart on his sleeve, and they broke his heart, even if they didn’t intend to.

She could see he was guarded; he didn’t want to be hurt again, and Hen didn’t blame him. There were definitely times where she could admit where they didn’t treat him as well as they should have.

“You all probably want to know why I am acting this way." Buck wasn’t even looking at them, he was talking to his lap.

“Only if you want to tell us, Boo. You can tell us as much or as little as you want." Athena spoke, she wanted to protect that boy, there was so much pain behind his eyes. She wanted to shield him away from the darkness of the world, but what she didn’t know that he had spent most of his life in darkness.

“The abuse started when I was eight."

Buck could tell everyone wanted to say something. His sister was heartbroken, she was ten years older than Buck, she should have been able to protect him. There were a few times where Maddie was suspicious that something was going wrong, but Doug always ended up distracting her from investigating further. She never knew their father was that cruel. She knew that he wasn’t a kind person. He was all about appearances outside of the house, but at home he was a different person, which is why she stayed out of the house so much.

Buck continued to tell them about the mental and physical abuse he was subjected to by their father. There were some scars that Buck had, that she never knew where they had come from. All he would tell her was childhood injury. Now it made more sense. It made her feel sick with guilt to know that she had been so oblivious to what her brother had gone through.

Then he started on the day Maddie left. Maddie’s heart sank. She really didn’t want to hear this bit. It made her sound like a horrible person who didn’t care about her little brother.

“I begged Maddie to take me with her. I’m sorry Maddie but I resented you for leaving me with that man…"

Maddie had tears streaming down her face. She looked around at everyone else in the living room. Eddie somehow looked sad and angry at the same time. Maddie could see him clenching his hands into fists as if he was trying to stop himself from reaching out to hold Buck.

Buck continued tell the story of when his Heterochromia came through and the abused got worse. Then a few years later he got the contacts, to how the abuse mostly stopped being physical and turned mostly into mental.

As if he was reading off a list, he started speaking in monotone. The next words he spoke out loud broke the group.

_ “You are such a disappointment."_

_“You can’t do anything right."_

_“No wonder your sister left you behind."_

_“Why did you think anyone would take you seriously."_

_“I always knew you were stupid; this just confirms it."_

_“You need to lose some weight you’re getting fat."_

_“You never think do you!"_

_“No-one will ever love you."_

_“You are pathetic."_

_“I thought I told you to cover that up!"_

Buck started to repeat the cycle of taunts his father used to throw at them. Halfway through the second run through Bobby cut him off. Eddie threw himself out of his seat and starting pacing, muttering to himself in Spanish. Hen had a few tears running down her cheeks. Chimney didn’t know what to do with himself, he was just staring blankly at Buck, Bobby was angry. Buck was like a son to him; he had no idea that Buck was this broken. He was such a positive, caring man.

Athena was livid, she looked like she would make her way to Pennsylvania and kill the man who did that to this sweet man, who grew up in a horrible situation, but made the most of his life after he got out.

Evan had so much love to give, but no one ever fully gave him the chance to show them that he could fully love them with his whole heart. Bobby hoped that his soulmate didn’t reject him outright. Or anyone he chose to be his life partner.

Maddie was just silently sobbing. Their father had used her against Buck. No wonder he resented her, she left him there, even though he begged her to take him with her. Doug didn’t want her little brother tagging along to live with them, so she had to force her little brother to stay in an abusive home.

“At the age of fifteen I had an eating disorder." Buck continued. They all looked at him startled. He was still going. He was literally going to tell them everything.

“Buck you don’t need to keep going." Chimney spoke. This part was hitting Chimney hard, he was the one that made comments about Buck’s weight not knowing the full force of the words to Buck’s psyche.

Buck kept talking, he spoke about starving himself, but having to force himself to eat small amounts to avoid passing out and sending him to the hospital. He didn’t want to make his father even angrier. He spoke about it going on for years, even after he left home right before he turned eighteen. Hearing about the hospital visit was hard. Buck spoke about it being a wakeup call, to start looking after himself better. He said it was a struggle, that there were a few stops and starts along the way. He would put on a bit of weight and hate himself for it and start to starve himself again.

He had finally gotten a handle on it at twenty-five. Having to be fit for Navy Seal training, made him have to get into shape and properly take care of himself. Buck did it though, even though the emotional toll it took on him, he pulled through. Even though he dropped out of Seal Training, he still kept looking after himself.

Through the entirety of Buck’s story, he never spoke about friends who supported him, he had done it all himself and got through to the other side and came out stronger than when he had started.

Buck spoke about trying to connect with people on his journey growing up, he even spoke about being a bit of a manwhore while bartending and beyond. After Abby he knew he needed to put that lifestyle behind him. He wanted to grow up and actually be in a committed relationship, Abby was just a starting block for him. Yes, he did miss her, but he knew he needed to let her go and move on. She had been essentially ghosting him for months. That didn’t help his self-esteem, but he understood why she needed to go.

Whenever he would meet his soulmate, he’d be ready for them. He was ready to put his past behind him completely and move on.

“I suppose that’s the bulk of it. Now you know everything."


	7. Family Therapy

Everyone was dead silent; they didn’t know how to react now. It was a lot to digest. Buck now looked emotionally drained.

“That’s a lot to take in. Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us everything."

Maddie wrapped her arms tightly around her little brother. She squeezed until she was almost suffocating him.

“I’m so sorry. I never should have left you behind. The only reason I did is because Doug threatened to leave me if I brought you along to live with us. I was so clouded by my love for him I didn’t see how much you were struggling with being at home. I hope one day that you’ll forgive me for leaving you behind."

Buck hugged Maddie back tightly in return. It still upset him after everything, but getting everything out in the open he felt that someone had lifted a weight off his chest and he could breathe again.

She finally let him go. He was then grabbed into a hug by Bobby. He was then squashed into a large dog pile with the rest of the group. They all ended up falling off the couch and onto the floor. No-one knew who broke first, but next thing the room was filled with laughter, which was a nice change from the tense anger and sadness in the room.

They all just ended up sitting on the floor talking and laughing. They were telling stories of old cases that they had while working at the 118. Eddie also opened up about Shannon, how she left him and Christopher when she had enough of being a mother, and how he handled being a single parent of a child with Cerebral Palsy, then how she just ended up texting him saying she was never coming back to them because she had found her soulmate. The information he gave freely made them understand him a lot more.

Chimney spoke about how he had lost his best friend was a brother to him in a fire not long after he had started at the 118. Hen spoke about how she became a firefighter and how she fought her way into staying with the 118 after being isolated by almost the whole squad. It was before Bobby, Buck and Eddie’s time at the 118, so it was interesting to hear how backwards it all was back then.

Bobby opened up about how he had lost his family. How it was his fault. How he had been addicted to pain pills and anything he could get his hands on to make the pain go away. How making the move to the 118 had changed his life, he had made a life with a new family, not forgetting his family he lost, but adding new members.

Athena delved into her past, she told the group of Emmett. How they were engaged when she was just starting off as a police officer, how it was her fault that he was killed, that she is still looking for his murderer after all these years. That one surprised the group; they had no idea that Athena was almost married before she had married Michael.

Maddie talked about her relationship with Doug, how it broke her, how she missed her little brother, and how she was always happy receiving his cards in the mail. She always hid them in a place Doug would never look. She spoke about the day she left him and how it was the best decision she had ever made. She had reconnected with her brother who she hadn’t heard from in three years.

“When you tried to get into the shower with me, I had never wanted to see my little brother like that." Maddie teased, nudging Evan.

“Maddie,”" he whined.

“I thought we would never speak of that ever again. It was embarrassing for both of us. I saw more of you than I ever wanted to."

“You saw more than you wanted to? What about me? I didn’t want your junk to be the first thing I saw of you after not seeing you for years," Maddie shuddered teasingly just thinking about it.

“Oh, great now I need brain bleach. I need to scrub that image from my brain."

The team looked at the pair of siblings confused. What were they even talking about?

“When did this happen?" Hen asked, her eyes lit up at the chance to get some blackmail on their youngest crew member.

“The day Maddie arrived." Buck mumbled looking away.

“Wait. It was that recent? Why didn’t you say anything?" Hen nudged Buck’s shoulder.

“Because we promised each other, we’d never speak of it again. I can’t unsee it. I wish I could erase it from my memory."

“Yeah this is the last time we are ever speaking about this. Evan remember to knock next time."

“You weren’t even supposed to be here. How was I supposed to know it was my sister in my shower and not my now ex-girlfriend?" Buck was so defensive. Everyone was laughing at him, well not him specifically, but the situation the Buckley siblings had gotten themselves into.

Hen lay on the floor cackling.

“I think she finally cracked," Chimney spoke.

“It was bound to happen sometime." That set the rest of the group off. After all the negative emotions of the day had finally been released, getting back to their normal was the next step. Laughing at the embarrassing moments of the family members, family dinners, going out on calls together and saving people.

“Buck, do you even have food in this place. Would there be enough for me to cook something edible for the team?"

Buck looked offended. How dare he assume that he didn’t have groceries. He could take care of himself just fine thank you very much.

“Of course, there are groceries. Knock yourself out. Have at it." Bobby made his way to Buck’s well Abby’s kitchen and started rummaging through the fridge.

“Buck, are you ever going to move out of here and find your own place? If you want to move on, maybe that would be the place to start." Maddie asked her brother; she was genuinely curious. She offered to bring him with her when she had moved into her new place, but he had refused.

“I’ve actually been thinking about that for a while. I’ve started looking into places in my downtime. I’ve found a few places to look at. I just need to make appointments to view them."

“While you are talking about it. Send emails to the realtors now, why wait. Isn’t it time to have your own place and fully let go of Abby? I’m not forcing you to move on quicker than you want to. Everyone moves at their own pace, but can you tell me you are happy here?"

Buck rolled his eyes and got up to get his laptop. He pulled up the bookmarked houses he was looking at.

“Ooh that second one is a nice place. Evan, these houses are for sale. Are you finally going to use the inheritance?"

“Inheritance?" Eddie asked curiously. Everyone else was curious what the Buckley siblings were talking about.

“Our grandparents left us large inheritances, we got access to them after we turned twenty-one, luckily I never thought to tell Doug about mine. All of it would have been gone by now. I’m surprised you have never used yours."

“I never needed the money. I enjoyed working all the different jobs I did. They paid enough so I could live comfortably. I didn’t need anything more. I am settled here; I’ve been thinking maybe it’s time to buy a house and fully put some roots down."

“I think that’s a good idea. You never belonged in Pennsylvania. You definitely fit in a lot more here. You’ve made a family for yourself. These guys are more of a family then our parents ever were."

Buck fired off the emails to view the houses he was looking into buying. He was excited to start this new part of his life. All that he needed now was to find his soulmate, if not them, someone who he could settle down with and see himself spending the rest of his life with that person.

When Bobby finally called them into the kitchen for dinner, they all sat around the table. Bobby asked if it was all right if they all prayed together. They weren’t all religious, but if praying made Bobby happy, they would definitely do that. They all joined hands and bowed their heads, while Bobby sent up a prayer thanking whoever was up there for giving them this opportunity to be together as a family, grow together and support each other.

They dug into the meal that Bobby had prepared. What was Abby’s apartment was filled with laughter and joy. Buck was ready to move forward with his life. He was now in the best position to do so. He finally had everything out in the open and was accepted by his family.

He was ready for what was coming next.


	8. Not Expecting That

Buck’s alarm didn’t go off this morning. When he naturally woke up, he noticed he only had half an hour to get to work.

“Shit!" Buck stumbled out of bed getting tangled in his sheets and falling to the floor.

“I don’t have time for this." Buck muttered while pulling himself off the floor and grabbing the nearest pair of clean pants, tugging them on. He did the same with a t shirt and hoodie. He was thankful he thought to repack his duffle bag with a clean change of clothes and other necessities the night before.

After everything that had happened last night, he was feeling a lot more free. He still had to work on himself a lot more, but he was slowly starting to accept himself. He was happy that everyone came around last night to talk to him. Getting everything out in the open definitely help him with his jumbled thoughts.

He had slept great after last night. After all the anxiety he had of the thought of facing his team had dissipated. He had a peaceful sleep, which is probably why he slept right through and woke naturally. He must have forgotten to set his alarm after last night.

They all needed that group therapy session, they learnt things about each other they had never talked about before. It was therapeutic for everyone. At the end of the night before everyone left Chimney made everyone hug it out in a group hug. After their dog pile of a hug, after their talk their more subdued hug was nice, Buck enjoyed the first group hug, even though he was sort of crushed into his floor.

They decided that after last night, they would do these group therapy sessions once a month to help get them through the tough calls that they had throughout the month, any issues they had that had come up. Any concerns. They decided as a team it would be a free-for-all time. We could talk about anything, with absolutely no judgements. Nothing would leave the room. They would do it at a different home each month and turn it into a family dinner. Extended family wouldn’t be included on those days, they would do a separate family dinner for the extended family on a different day.

Buck grabbed his duffle bag, wallet, phone and keys and bolted out the door to his jeep. He’d just have to have breakfast when he got to work.

Buck ran to clock in with only a few minutes to spare. He tossed his stuff into his locker, quickly got dressed into his uniform and made his way up the stairs to see what Bobby was cooking for breakfast.

“Morning."

Buck slumped into a chair where Chimney and Hen were already sitting. Eddie was starting an hour later.

“So how are you doing after last night Buck?" Hen spoke looking at their youngest member who had only just gotten to work on time.

“I feel great after last night. My mind is a lot clearer. I forgot to set my alarm, and I slept right through. I was not expecting to be running late this morning. So, I didn’t have much time to do anything this morning. It was more of a grab my stuff and go before I ran into traffic and make me more late than I already was."

“But you got here on time, just but still. Did you even have time to eat this morning?" Bobby spoke from the kitchen where he was making breakfast for the team.

“Nope. I was lucky I remembered to repack my duffle bag last night, so I didn’t have that to worry about."

Bobby brought a plate of food over to Buck, he smiled in thanks and started eating. Buck finally looked up and made eye contact with the team, he had been trying to wake himself up properly, so he was more alert for when they got their first call of the day. Who knew when they would get a call? He wanted to get as much food into himself as he could before the firehouse siren went off signalling a call.

“Whoa." Chimney spoke startled.

“What? What happened?" Buck was confused why Chimney was staring at him wide eyed. Hen stopped eating and looked at Buck the same way. Bobby was trying to be more subtle about it.

“Dude. I thought you always liked to cover that. What happened to getting into the habit?" Chimney gestured to his eyes. Shit, that is what he had forgotten to do in his rush to get ready for work. Buck also left his backup contacts at home.

“I forgot to reset my alarm last night remember, so it never went off, so I was in a rush to get to work and forgot to put it in. I’ll just have to deal with it today not being covered."

Someone else started to make their way into the loft, Buck could hear the heavy footsteps.

“Yo Eddie did you forget your contacts today as well?" Eddie was just sitting down at the table with everyone else. Buck turned his head to see what was going on. When he locked eyes with Eddie his eyes started to tingle and itch like there was something in them. Buck brought his hands up to his eyes and started to rub them to try make the sensation go away.

“No fucking way." Hen breathed out. Hen was staring at Buck mesmerised she then looked at Eddie the same way.

Buck’s stomach dropped. He snatched up his cellphone and opened the camera up to selfie mode. His eyes had shifted colour it had been almost sixteen years since they had last changed, they had now blended with Eddie’s eye colour. Buck now had a hazel-coloured ring around his pupil, and the natural blue surrounded that.

“Well, I was not expecting that." Chimney stated bluntly.


	9. Eddie Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of Eddie's backstory.

Eddie had never felt ashamed of his Heterochromia. His family never forced him to hide it. As he got further into his teen years, he started to wear a contact over the blue eye that paired him to his so-called soulmate.

He was one of the older ones who didn’t get their corresponding eye colour until later in life. Eddie was fifteen turning sixteen when the blue started to appear in his right eye. His parents explained to him it happened at the same time his soulmate’s eye colour changed. It more than likely meant that his soulmate was a little younger than him.

To Eddie it just seemed natural to just cover it up and get on with his life. At that age it meant nothing to him, he wasn’t even thinking about spending the rest of his life with someone. He was just busy being a teenager he didn’t even know what he wanted to do with his life, let alone if he believed in soulmates.

After graduating high school, he still didn’t know what he wanted to do. He was interested in medicine, so maybe he’d try that. He definitely had the grades to get in. He started studying to become a doctor, his parents were proud of him of picking a noble field. He stuck it out for a few years and found it wasn’t doing anything for him anymore. He was only twenty-one when he dropped out of medical school; he felt like he needed to get in on the action; he thought he would enlist and become an army medic. They had medic training courses he could do before properly being called to serve; it spoke to him more than being a doctor in a hospital ever would.

Then right as he enlisted, he met Shannon. They started his medic training immediately. The first part of his training was the MMT Military Medic Technician training which lasted eighteen months. He was finally happy with his life; he had a beautiful girlfriend who seemed to love him. He was happy; he was training for something that he believed in.

After he had finished the MMT, he started the 42 weeks of Medic training. He learnt a lot during his time. He was ready to get out there and put his training to the test.

Shannon wasn’t happy with his choice of being an army medic, why couldn’t he have just stuck it out and become a doctor here in the States and not have to run off to a war zone and get shot at. They fought about it a lot. The fights were horrible sometimes, they’d be yelling at each other, then she’d decide she had enough and just leave. Then the next day they were back to normal. Eddie knew it wasn’t a healthy relationship to be in, but he loved her.

Everything changed when she told him she was pregnant. The next day he was given his summons. He had a month until they shipped him off to god knows where. He ended up doing what he thought was the noble thing and proposed to her; they had a small ceremony right before they shipped him off and that was that.

Being away from his wife was hard, but he loved being out in all the action, sure he didn’t enjoy being shot at all the time while he was trying to give aid to his brothers in arms. Shannon would send him ultrasound pictures of their baby after each appointment she went to. He was excited about his child, as she got further into the pregnancy, they found out they were having a boy. During their rare video chats, they would throw out baby names and talk about their child.

It turns out he would be missing his son’s birth. His tour was ending right after Shannon was supposed to give birth. He missed his son Christopher’s birth, all because he was in a war zone helping people.

Shannon struggled during labour. Christopher ended up getting stuck in the birth canal and Shannon needed the extra help to get him out. Turns out a lot went wrong that day.

At the end of his first tour he signed on for a second tour, he had three weeks leave to meet his son before they called him back. He loves his son; he is the best part of his world. When he found out that his son had Cerebral Palsy, he got scared of the idea of his own son and was relieved that he was heading back on his second tour.

It was hard leaving them behind to go back to Afghanistan, he just kept telling himself it was for a noble cause, that he wasn’t running away. Eddie knew deep down that was exactly what he was doing. He got to believe he was doing something noble for his country, no-one knew he was running scared.

He watched his son grow through pictures and video chats; it wasn’t the same as being there in person. As Christopher grew, he could see the subtle changes in Christopher because of the Cerebral Palsy. He was such a happy child, Eddie just wished he hadn’t thought to run away.

At the end of his second tour he had a longer gap in between until they called him back for his third tour. Eddie and Shannon still fought a lot about him not being around. Eddie could argue that the army paid well, and they needed the money for Christopher’s treatments that he needed. At least that is what he told himself.

Christopher was almost two and such a sweet little boy who adored his Daddy. While Eddie was on leave, they’d play a lot together. Eddie noticed little things about Christopher’s development that didn’t match other children. Christopher had never let that stop him.

When Eddie was finally called for his third tour of duty, it crushed him to leave his son. Seeing his son cry out for him and he left to go board his plane was soul crushing. Eddie felt like this tour stretched on the longest. His son would be four when his tour ended, and Eddie would almost be twenty-eight.

After each tour, the nightmares were hard, there were times he ended up on the couch just so he wouldn’t wake Shannon or Christopher. He knew he had a PTS, but he just kept resigning up to do more tours.

He had one more tour left after this one and then he could retire. He could reenlist voluntarily, but Eddie thought one more short tour would be enough. He needed to be there to see his son grow up; he had already missed out on too much already.

Seeing Shannon and Christopher waiting for him in the airport was like seeing the light at the end of a dark tunnel. He ran to his family and embraced them tightly and never wanted to let go. He brought Christopher into his arms and spun him around. Chris threw his head back and shrieked with joy.

He was home.

He thought Shannon would be happy that he only needed to do one more tour before he could finally retire from the army. She didn’t even want him to go back, no matter how many times he told her he could be arrested if he didn’t stick to his commitments, but apparently that didn’t matter to her.

Christopher loved having him home, he stuck to him like super glue during the day. They would go to the park as a family and play. Eddie would take Christopher down the slide on his lap, Shannon ripped him a new one for doing that. What mattered to Eddie more was Christopher having fun, so Eddie just brushed it off.

The days Shannon had work, Eddie would take Chris to the park, and they’d have a blast. The deadline for his return to duty was steadily approaching and Shannon got colder every day towards him.

Eddie knew their relationship wasn’t as solid as it used to be, but he was willing to keep at it. Eddie would only be away for half the time, this time round. That didn’t matter to Shannon, in her eyes Eddie was abandoning her and Christopher.

His final tour went faster than usual, he was excited to go home and see his family. When Eddie finally retired from being an army medic. He knew he would struggle to be back, he couldn’t be fully there for his family if he didn’t deal with his demons. Once he got back, he planned on finding a psychologist for Veterans. He wanted to be fully mentally there for Christopher. He found one that was helpful to help sort through his emotions, and how he had broken part of himself while he was in Afghanistan.

What broke him the most, is a week after he finished his final tour Shannon left him and Christopher. His son was heartbroken. He cried in his room for days, Eddie didn’t know how to help him. All he could do is be with his son and promise that he was never leaving him again. He was staying. He was finished with the long tours.

Eddie tried his best at being a single parent. They got into a routine that suited both of them. They struggled a bit to start. Eddie had to learn Christopher’s routine that Shannon put into play. There were times Eddie just said fuck it and let Chris pick his own clothing and let him try to dress himself, with him helping when Chris needed it.

Eddie started working part time in a gym where he took classes teaching people how to do MMA fight, he also picked up doing self-defense classes for woman.

Eddie worked at the gym for two years, after a while he didn’t get as much enjoyment out of it.

Shannon had texted him one day saying she was never coming back; she had met her soulmate, and she was sending divorce papers. After they signed the papers, he never heard from her again. They had never sorted out a custody agreement for Christopher, seems like she just wanted to start a whole new life without the two of them.

He was done with Texas; they needed a fresh start. Eddie decided on moving to Los Angeles, they had family there. His Abuela and his Tia were there so they wouldn’t be alone. His parents fought him on the decision to move, but he knew it would be good for them getting away, starting fresh in a new city.

They transitioned to L.A. It was great, his Abuela and Tia were excited to see them when they came to meet the boys at the airport. Finding a place for him and Christopher took a while, he had so many requirements to meet so the house was suitable for Chris to move around in.

While he was out looking at houses, he ran into an LAFD recruiter. He started training the very next week.

He graduated at the top of his class. He even found that there were firehouse Captains fighting to have him on their teams. Captain Robert Nash had been the one to convince him to join his team.

He chose Station 118, everyone was really welcoming, well everyone except for Buck. It took Buck a couple of days to warm up to him. They bonded over removing a live grenade out of a man’s leg. They’ve been close ever since.

One day his whole life changed. When he locked eyes with Buck when they both had no contacts in.

“I did not see that coming."

Neither did he.


	10. Speechless

Everyone around the table was speechless. They had just seen an instant connection. If you could call it that. They had been friends for months and only just now properly locked eyes with each other without the barrier of contacts.

No one knew how to react. Buck and Eddie were just staring at each other, not really knowing what to say. Someone had to break the silence.

Bobby started to tap Chimney and Hen on the shoulders and gestured them to follow him away from the two men staring at each other, not saying anything. Bobby was trying to give them privacy to discuss what had just happened.

"But we want to watch." Chimney whined, he followed Hen and Bobby, anyway. 

"Don't be creepy, Chim." The voices faded away as they walked down the stairs. 

“Wow. Um I wasn’t expecting that." Buck cleared his throat and started to fidget. He was nervous. This was his best friend and apparently, they were soulmates.

“I guess I don’t need to wear the contacts now."

Eddie’s lip started twitching. Next thing Buck knew Eddie was laughing. Buck just stared at him wondering if he had cracked. The laughter was contagious. It didn’t take long for Buck to start laughing along with him.

“Okay, Okay. Let’s try to be serious now." Eddie tried to calm down, a few laughs managed to slip out.

“I’ll just be up front and say, I am happy it is you that is my soulmate. Now that it’s happened, I can’t really imagine it being anyone else. I’ll take whatever you can give me, that you are willing to give. Just know that I am prepared to give you all of me. Christopher already adores you, which is a big plus for me. You are my best friend and we are comfortable with each other. It will be a little different. I’ll give you whatever you want. You can have me in whatever capacity you want. I’ve even thought about asking you out a few times, but I always chickened out in the end. I was always unsure if you would be receptive or not."

Buck listened patiently while Eddie spoke. Buck was surprised that Eddie was so receptive to them being soulmates. When Eddie mentioned Christopher, Buck had to smile. He loved that kid. He made him a better person. He was just so optimistic all the time, Buck just had to smile.

When Eddie spoke about wanting to ask him out a few times, he was happily surprised, he never knew that his affections were returned. Buck had been attracted to Eddie from the start, even when Buck was being a jackass to him. To Buck it wasn’t just physical attraction, he loved the way Eddie was a father, how he was his best friend, someone to watch his back. There was so much he loved, but even more to discover and he couldn’t wait.

“Definitely everything." Buck grinned. His cheeks flushed as he noticed Eddie’s eyes darken.

Eddie got up out of his seat and walked over to Buck. Buck’s heart started racing, was he going to do what he thought he was going to do? Buck’s palms started to sweat.

Eddie lifted his chin up with his finger.

“Is this okay?" He whispered. As if speaking at a louder volume would break the intimate bubble, they were in.

“Yeah." Buck breathed out at the same volume. Buck hadn’t realized he was holding his breath.

“Buck, breathe." Eddie reminded him gently, he then ever so softly brought their lips together. Buck didn’t know what he was expecting. It was a soft kiss full of love, it was like slipping into a warm bath, or snuggling down into bed. It was safe, comfortable. It made Buck happy. He pressed back a little firmer, grabbed Eddie’s hand and interlocked their fingers and gently squeezed in reassurance that everything was going to be okay, he was here with him.

They then remembered they were still at work. Bobby, Chimney and Hen were probably dying to know what had been going on up there.

They separated after a minute; it was like the most natural thing in the world. Even though they were destined to be soulmates, they became best friends first, this seemed like the next natural step.

They heard the click of a camera shutter.

“I thought I told you to put yours on silent." Hen hissed at Chimney.

Buck and Eddie looked towards the sound. There stood Bobby, Chimney and Hen. Chimney and Hen had their phones out taking photos of the two men. They were all grinning at the pair.

“It’s about time you guys. We’ve been betting how long it would take for you two to get together. This was even before we knew you were soulmates. You guys were being so obvious, also so oblivious."

“Really guys? You just had to take pictures?"

“Wait? Oblivious? Who’s oblivious?" Buck looked offended. He wasn’t that oblivious, was he? Buck looked over at Eddie who was trying not to laugh at the face Buck was pulling.

“You both were oblivious. Buck with his puppy dog eyes pining over Eddie. You guys can literally not stop touching each other." Hen was right. They were standing so close together that their shoulders were brushing.

“That’s not the point." Buck whined. It was, he knew that. He just didn’t want to admit that Hen was right about everything.

The teasing was stopped by the sound of the firehouse alarm blaring through the building. The team ran down the stair and to the vehicles.

They put their headsets on, and Bobby briefed them on their call and what to expect when they got there. Usually Hen and Chim would be in the ambulance driving it to the scene. They decided to get in some last-minute ribbing by going in the fire truck with everyone else. Another team was bringing over the ambulance.

“Remember boys. Keep it professional." Bobby said teasingly through the headset.

“Oh, come on Bobby. You too?"

“What? You think it was just these clowns that wanted you to get together? I placed my bet months ago. The betting started not long after you arrived here Eddie." Bobby laughed at the shocked faces of the two men. Not surprising they were pressed up against each other. There was a lot of room in the truck where they could have their own space and not be pressed up against each other, but yet again they chose to sit close to each other.

“And you wonder what tipped us off." Hen gestured between the men that were sitting pressed up together.

They did not know what personal space meant. It seemed like they never did. They always seemed to gravitate towards each other, even from the start. Even when Buck was posturing when Eddie first started. The word peacocking came up a few times in the betting pool group chat. Those oblivious idiots.

_

Buck and Eddie decided that they would tell Christopher after work that they were together. He was an observant child and he would notice the change in his Dad’s eye colour. Buck was nervous. He was meeting them at their place. He had a house viewing after work; he was going to that first then heading over.

He definitely could see himself living in that house. He was going to put an offer in, he just had to get some second opinions first.

Buck made his way to Eddie and Christopher’s house. He was shaking; he was nervous. He adored Christopher, but he didn’t know how Chris would take it. Hopefully it wouldn’t go too badly.

Buck parked his Jeep in Eddie’s driveway, and just sat there for a few minutes, trying to psych himself up. His phone went off in the cupholder next to him.

**Eddie: ** _Are you ever coming inside? _

Buck took a deep breath and unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the driver’s side door. He started to make his way to the front door when it opened. Eddie was standing there looking impatient.

“Finally, took you long enough."

Buck smiled at him nervously. Eddie gave him a quick peak on the cheek.

“Chris is in his room. We’ll be able to hear him if he starts coming out." Eddie then pulled Buck in by his hand and pressed their lips together.

“You ready to do this?" Eddie asked looking into Buck’s eyes looking for the answer.

“I guess so. I’m a bit scared to be honest." Buck started to fidget; he didn’t know what to do with his hands.

“Chris will be happy, he adores you. Sometimes I think more than me." Eddie said teasingly pushing Buck’s shoulder gently. Eddie turned and walked back into the house.

“Chris guess who’s here!" Eddie called out.

“Bucky!" The clacking of Christopher’s crutches moved quickly through the house. 

Buck couldn’t help but smile. Christopher’s joy was always so contagious. Buck swung Christopher into his arms and hugged him tightly. Chris had his head thrown back in laughter. Eddie was watching the pair with a smile on his face.

Christopher looked up at Buck, he put a hand on his face.

“Your eyes have changed." He stated bluntly. Buck looked over at Eddie, how does he explain it to him. He didn’t know how much Eddie had told Christopher about soulmates.

“Bud, remember me telling you about my two different eye colours and when I met my soulmate they’d change?"

“Are you going to leave us now Bucky like Mom did?" Christopher’s eyes started welling up. Buck’s heart broke. He started to panic. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Christopher was supposed to be happy; he’d made him cry.

“No, No, buddy. Absolutely not. I'm never going to leave you. Not if I can help it." Buck hugged Christopher tighter. Buck’s started crying alongside Christopher. Buck started rocking Christopher in his arms. Chris had his legs wrapped around Buck’s waist and his arms wound tightly around Buck neck as he cried. Buck looked over at Eddie.

‘Help me.’ He mouthed. He didn’t know how to calm him down.

Eddie walked over to the pair. He just had to let his son see that it was him that Buck had matched with. That Buck would be staying with them.

“Bud, it was me that Buck matched with." Eddie spoke softly into Christopher’s ear. Christopher’s head snapped up to look at his Dad. He looked into his Dad’s eyes Then looked into Buck’s. He saw the change in them that were sort of like Buck’s, the colours were just the other way around.

Christopher let out a squeal that startled Buck and Eddie. Christopher hugged him tighter.

“Please don't leave us."

“I definitely don’t plan on leaving. I am definitely here to stay."

Eddie wrapped his arms around the two of them. This was his family. They had come so far after Shannon leaving them, he didn’t know how to let someone else into his heart. Yet Buck managed to worm his way in there. Buck had his heart from the day he took it upon himself to give Bobby a heads up about Eddie bringing Christopher to the firehouse for the day. He saw how the two interacted that day and he was a goner. His heart was definitely there, it just took time for his brain to catch up.

There were times he almost got up the nerve to ask Buck out, but something held him back. When they had matched, he was shocked yes, but he was so happy. Buck slipped so seamlessly into their lives; he couldn’t imagine Buck not being there. 

“Why are we still standing in the doorway when there is a perfectly comfortable couch for us to cuddle on?" Buck said teasingly. Eddie let the pair go and grabbed Buck’s hand and led the pair over to the couch. He flopped down and Buck arranged the three of them into a comfortable cuddling position.

Buck looked over at Eddie and smiled, He gently pressed their lips together. Christopher had already fallen asleep after all the excitement.

“Are you happy?" Buck whispered. He ran his fingers through Christopher’s hair.

“So happy." Eddie breathed.

This moment right here was perfect. He definitely wouldn’t change a thing.


	11. Epilogue

It had been six months since the day Buck and Eddie soul matched, which marked the day of them getting together. A lot had happened in those six months.

Eddie had another discussion with Shannon about a custody agreement. Buck and Christopher overheard some of it.

“You didn’t want him anymore." Eddie half yelled. Christopher was crushed. It took Buck a long time to calm Chris down after that. He was heartbroken. Buck had to keep reminding him he and Eddie were still there. He thinks it helped a little.

Buck had brought the house he had been looking at, it didn’t take long for Eddie and Christopher to move in with him. It was perfect waking up to his two boys every day.

Eddie talked to Christopher about seeing Shannon, but it turned out to be unnecessary. She had bailed again before she could even see Chris like she had wanted. She must have thought it wasn’t important enough. Buck, Christopher and Eddie spent the day in bed cuddling after that. Chris couldn’t understand why his Mom had changed her mind about wanting to see him.

Then the Ladder truck happened. A kid was furious at Bobby for turning his father into the police for arson that sent him to prison. His father ended up dying in prison from a health complication. Freddie started leaving bombs for everyone involved in the case.

Bobby was the last one.

There was a bomb left under the ladder truck that Buck was in. He ended up with the whole vehicle crushing his leg. 

No-one was coming for him. He could barely see anything, because of the blood dripping into his eyes. He didn’t know how long it was before someone came for him. He felt hands touching his face. Eddie was next to him; he could feel him. Eddie was whispering things to him in Spanish, he had no idea what he was saying but it comforted him as well as it could at the moment. Buck was fading in and out.

They slowly lifted the weight of the ladder truck off him, but not far enough that they could get him out. The weight was put back onto his leg, Buck knew he had to be screaming, it was agonizing.

The small group of first responders couldn’t get the truck off him, then all the bystanders ran over to help get him out. Hen pulled him to safety. He could finally feel the weight come off his leg.

He didn’t know much of what happened after that. When he woke up after surgery, his left leg was in a bulky white cast that came to mid-thigh. Carla was sitting next to his bed and told him what had happened. She said everyone would be there in a few minutes. They had been staying at the hospital waiting for him to come out of surgery. The team all piled into his room, Eddie came over and pressed his lips to Buck’s forehead and then lips.

Buck was happy he wasn’t alone; he was alone under the ladder truck and it scared him. He didn’t know how everything would turn out.

Eddie put Christopher up on the bed next to Buck on his right side. Chris cuddled into him and wouldn’t let him go.

It would take weeks before he was out of the cast and could do physical therapy. He just wanted to get back to being a firefighter. He had the support of Eddie and Christopher. There were days he started to slip into a depressive state. His family rallied around him. They all wanted him to be back at the 118, but they wanted him better first.

The day came for the celebration of the end of Eddie’s probationary period. He would officially be a full-fledged firefighter.

“Buck you don’t have to come." Eddie said before he left for work in the morning.

“As if you could keep me away. I’ll be there, I want to be there for you. You’ve been here for me. Let me be there for you. I am so proud of you." Buck brushed their lips together, then shoved Eddie towards the front door.

“Go to work. I’ll see you later. I love you." Eddie looked back at Buck, grinned and blew him a kiss.

“I love you, too. Chris you are in charge today!" Chris cheered from his bedroom where he was getting ready for the day. The ceremony wasn’t until this afternoon, so Buck and Chris were just going to chill today.

Maddie came around after her shift, they were going over to the ceremony together. She had a pair of his uniform pants and was cutting the leg off for his cast to fit through.

“Hey! Whoa, Whoa. Come on, be careful." Buck was startled as she tore the pant leg off. Christopher was sitting watching them giggling.

“Uh, were you going to sew these two pieces back together? I don’t think so."

“Doesn’t mean you had to rip them." Maddie looked at her handiwork and pulled a face.

“Uh huh. Looks terrible."

Maddie rolled her eyes at Buck and threw the pants at him to put on. She helped him tuck the pant leg into the top of his cast.

“Alright Chris are you ready to go see your dad?" Buck grabbed his own crutches and hobbled out to the car and got into the passenger seat. Maddie helped Chris into the backseat. They made their way to the station where the celebration was being held.

There were round tables set up around the empty firehouse. Eddie’s extended family were already seated around the tables. Buck had only met Eddie’s parents and sisters a few times. They were welcoming enough. Still Buck was nervous around them. Abuela and Tia were great, he loved them it was just the rest of the Eddie’s family he was still a little uneasy around.

Buck hobbled over to a chair and sat down. When everyone had arrived, Bobby started the short ceremony announcing Eddie was now a full-fledged firefighter. Christopher made is way up the aisle with Eddie’s helmet. It was just so precious. Buck’s heart was melting.

After dinner, the cake was passed around. Buck got up to congratulate his boyfriend.

“About time, right?" Buck said teasingly. Eddie laughed shaking his head. He wrapped his arms around Buck’s shoulders.

“I’m so happy you are here." Eddie kissed Buck gently. He wanted to keep it PG for his family, he knew they’d be teasing them for it later. And of course, Hen and Chimney were taking photos of the pair.

“Really guys? Haven’t you got enough photos of us?" Buck groaned.

“Not even close. We’ll get photos of every milestone." Chimney teased.

Eddie shook his head laughing at the blush on Buck’s cheeks.

Eddie was finally off probation. It wouldn’t be the same without Buck watching his back, he’d help him get to the place he needs to be.

_

Eddie was picking Buck up from physical therapy. The cast had come off a couple of months ago and Buck got right into it. It was hard, Buck struggled a lot to begin with. Eddie was there every step of the way. There were a lot of times Buck was down about not being able to be a firefighter right now. It was harder when Eddie went to work, and Buck knew he couldn’t follow.

As Buck’s leg healed his mood changed a lot. He was a lot happier that he now had a date where he could go back to work. He was making great progress. Buck was self-conscious about the scarring on his legs, but to Eddie it shows him he survived. That he was strong enough to pull through.

Buck walked out of the physical therapist’s office and lit up when he saw Eddie standing there waiting for him.

“Hey babe." Buck moved over to Eddie and grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the office.

“Hey." Eddie grinned, stumbling after Buck as he dragged him to Eddie’s truck.

“I can’t wait until I am finished with physical therapy." Buck leaned against the truck and smiled at Eddie.

“And we can’t wait until you are back at work with us. We’ve been counting down the days. It isn’t the same without you."

Eddie pressed a kiss to Buck’s lips and hopped into the driver’s seat. Buck piled in after him.

“Where to? Home for lunch? Or out to lunch?" Eddie questioned turning on the truck.

“We haven’t had a lunch date in a while that was just the two of us, so let’s do that."

_

Buck was finished with Physical therapy completely. It had taken him five months to get back into fighting shape. Then he could do his recertification tests. He hadn’t told anyone yet. Everyone thought he still had a few more weeks or longer until he was finished. Then he could go back and start training for his recertification. They thought he still had a couple of months to go until he was completely ready to be back.

Buck went above Bobby’s head and scheduled a recertification test. He wanted to surprise everyone but Eddie most of all.

Buck had a plan, he just had to implement it. It was going to go down next week. He was ready for it.

_

Buck flew through the recertification test, even beating some of his previous scores. Only a few people knew about the test. None of them were from the 118. The Chief happily signed his reinstatement papers. Buck was ecstatic, now to move on to the next part of his plan.

_

Buck was getting jittery. He was nervous. Buck wanted to do it at the firehouse, but that would give his surprise away. It just had to be at home. He had everything ready. He just now had to wait for Eddie to get home from his shift. Christopher was at Abuela’s for the night. No-one knew what he was doing. He knew it wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, he doesn’t think they’ll be expecting it now. He really hopes he manages to surprise Eddie.

Buck waits for Eddie in the living room, he should be getting home soon. He has everything he needs on him. All he needs now is his boyfriend.

Buck heard Eddie’s truck come up the driveway. Buck started to get more nervous. He didn’t know what to start with. Maybe he’d just wing it and see how his heart feels in the moment.

“Buck? _Mi Amor?"_ Eddie called out. Buck cleared his throat. Hopefully, his voice didn’t shake.

“In here." Buck tried to keep his voice steady. He was standing in the middle of the living room waiting. His hands started shaking. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. He didn’t think Eddie would turn him down outright.

“Everything OK?" Eddie asked curiously. Something was wrong Buck was shaking.

“Are you feeling alright? Your hands are shaking." Eddie grabbed Buck’s hands in his. Buck took a deep breath and started to lower himself down onto one knee.

Eddie’s heart skipped a beat then started racing double time. This was really happening. Eddie’s eyes started filling with tears.

“Buck.” He whispered looking down at his boyfriend.

“I don’t know exactly how to do this. I’ve been waiting for months for the right moment. I wanted to be healed enough to be able to get down on one knee for you. As you can see, I succeeded.,"

Eddie let out a watery laugh. It was actually happening.

“I wanted to thank you for all the support you’ve given me over the last few months. I know I wasn’t the best person to be around most of the time. I couldn’t have done this without you and Christopher by my side. I want to continue having your back for the rest of our lives if you’ll have me. Eddie. Will you marry me?"

Buck had tears in his eyes. His heart was in his throat. He was nervous about what Eddie was going to say. He hoped he had done the right thing.

A sob broke its way out of Eddie’s chest. Eddie started nodding. He crouched down to Buck’s level and kissed him. Eddie couldn’t stop the tears. He managed to get at least answer Buck verbally.

“Yes. Holy shit. Yes." Eddie then tackled Buck over.

“Yes?" Buck whispered mesmerized.

“Absolutely yes."

Buck reached into his pants pocket for the ring he was carrying to give to Eddie. Buck slipped the ring onto Eddie’s left hand ring finger.

The ring was a black and silver toned titanium wedding band. Eddie didn’t know how to react. They were engaged. Buck had actually proposed. He always thought he’d be the one to propose. Buck definitely surprised him.

“I love you. I guess it is time to tell the family."

_

Christopher was so excited. He squealed so loud when they had told him once Abuela had dropped him off in the morning. He had seen his Dad’s ring and got excited. Buck had wanted to include Christopher in the proposal, but Buck decided to surprise Christopher with the news. He had already spoken to Chris months ago about how he eventually wanted to marry his dad, this was before the accident, ever since he had been planning. Chris was definitely all for it. Buck marrying his dad meant he would be staying with them.

Eddie still didn’t know about Buck’s reinstatement. Buck was going to surprise Eddie at work. No-one else on the team knew, so it was going to be a surprise for everyone.

Eddie had to take Christopher to school, they had to rush out the door as they were running late. All the excitement of the morning made them run overtime and had to get Christopher to school quickly before he was too late.

Buck decided to arrive in his uniform and tell the team that way. Eddie would be the first to know about his reinstatement, he'd meet him out in the parking lot. He then wanted to see how long it would take for the team to notice Buck’s uniform and Eddie’s engagement ring.

Buck pulled up to the fire station. They didn’t know how to tell the team of their engagement. Buck just said let them figure it out. Wear the ring and see how long it takes. Eddie didn’t want to do it without him. Buck said he’d meet him at the fire station and ‘pop in for a visit’ then they’d do it together.

Buck sat in his car. He grabbed the reinstatement papers out of his glove compartment. Now he just had to wait for Eddie.

Eddie arrived 5 minutes after Buck did. Buck started to get out of the Jeep when Eddie did. When Eddie looked over at him, he stopped shocked.

“No way!"

Buck grinned nodding waving the reinstatement papers. Eddie ran over to him and picked him up swinging him around.

“How long have you known?" Eddie whispered into his ear.

“A couple of weeks. I wanted to surprise you. Well, you and the team. They also have no idea,"

“I’ll go in first. I’ll see you in there." Buck pressed a kiss to Eddie lips and started walking into station 118.

He didn’t see anyone yet. He did hear the voices of a few people up in the loft and started to make his way up there.

Bobby, Chimney and Hen looked over at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Eddie wasn’t too far behind him, he was just changing into his uniform.

“Hey guys." Buck called out, walking towards the group. They stopped and stared. They noticed Buck wearing his uniform.

“What’s going on?" Bobby asked.

“Oh yeah. Bobby. Here are my reinstatement papers." Chimney inhaled the sip of water he was taking and started coughing and spluttering.

“What?!" Hen was surprised. None of them knew this was happening.

“Surprise!" Buck called out.

“When did this happen?" Bobby questioned looking over the papers Buck handed to him.

Eddie walked over to the group. He pressed a kiss to Buck’s forehead in greeting, even though they already said hello to each just before.

“What did I miss?" Eddie grabbed the jug of water off the table and poured himself a glass of water. He purposefully left his left hand visible on the table. He wanted to see how long it would take. Knowing Hen, not very long.

Hen looked over at Eddie, opened her mouth to answer him. She stopped, zeroing on his hand.

“Uh excuse me, but what is this?" She spoke loudly grabbing Eddie’s left hand.

“So, do you want to tell them or should I?" Eddie asked looking over at Buck.

“What do you think?" 

"Go ahead Buck. I'll follow your lead."

Hen still had hold of Eddie’s hand. She had gotten the attention of Bobby and Chimney.

“What’s this about?" Bobby asked, peering over Hen’s shoulder.

“I asked Eddie to marry me, and he said yes."

The group was speechless. They looked like they were trying to form sentences but couldn’t get the words out.

Buck looked over to Eddie and murmured.

“Do you think we broke them?"

“I hope you all didn’t start breakfast without me." Athena called out from across the room. She looked confused when she saw Buck sitting there but looked more confused when she saw him in uniform.

“What did I miss?"

Hen finally broke out of her stupor.

“Buck got reinstated." Hen spoke gesturing to Buck who had his uniform for in the first time in months.

“I asked Eddie to marry me yesterday and he said yes." That second one stopped Athena in her tracks.

“You’re getting married?" She spoke softly, as if not quite believing what she heard was correct. 

He grinned, showing Athena the ring, Buck had placed there yesterday. That broke everyone out of their trance. There cheers and hugs going around. The team was finally whole again. They had their missing piece back.

Bobby watched Buck holding onto Eddie while they talked to Chimney and Athena. Buck looked joyful. Bobby hadn’t seen Buck look this ecstatic in a long time. After his injury everyone could tell he wasn’t as happy as he could have been.

Bobby was grateful that Buck had Eddie and Christopher by his side throughout his recovery. Bobby didn’t know how he would’ve handled it if he didn’t have them. Buck tried a few times to isolate himself, but Eddie pulled him out every time and was just there for Buck in whatever way he needed him.

“He’s grown up a lot, hasn’t he?" Hen spoke up next to him.

“He’s definitely changed a lot. Who would've thought when he started here, that three years later, he would have found his soulmate in his best friend and would be engaged?"

“He has definitely earned it after everything he has been through. I don’t think I have ever seen him this happy." Bobby watched the man he grew to see as his adopted son.

The fire house alarm went off signalling a call. They all flew into action running down the stairs and heading to the truck. Buck had a grin on his face. It was his first call in months, his adrenaline was spiked. He was ready to get back into the action.

Buck was definitely in the right place.

_

Buck and Eddie had a small intimate ceremony held at Station 118. Family and teams who worked with them at the station on their shifts were invited. Bobby officiated; Christopher was the ring bearer. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. There was of course a bet on who would cry the most between Buck and Eddie.

Turns out it was Bobby. It took him a few tries to get through asking the boys for their vows, then asking them to exchange rings.

During the reception Buck whispered to Eddie when they had their foreheads pressed together while trying to slow dance.

“I think I might be in the right place."


End file.
